Stranger Things Is Based on a True Story. Kinda

Or rather, Hawkins is based on a real place. It sounds cooler when Gaten Matarazzo explains it.

Demogorgons, inverted worlds, really bad psychokinesis-induced nosebleeds—a lot of really unbelievable things exist in the world of Stranger Things. Hence the name. But that doesn’t mean everything in Hawkins, Indiana is fiction. At least not entirely. In fact, Hawkins itself has real-world roots.

“It’s based on a place in Montauk, New York called Camp Hero,” says Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo (aka Dustin). “There was, like, rumors of secret government spies doing human experiments to fight in the Cold War. It’s based on that one government lab.”

OK, so maybe Eleven isn't actually out in the woods somewhere fighting monsters, but it does show there’s more truth to the mysteries on Netflix’s show than you might think. Other things Matarazzo and his costar Joe Keery (Steve) reveal in Google Autocompete Interview above? Well, for one, they say it might not be good for children—“Depends on the kid,” Matarazzo says—and that Stranger Things passes the Bechdel Test.

Want to know more, including whether or not Keery is currently pregnant? Click play on the video above.